A decision could come as early as today from a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas on whether to ban the abortion pill mifepristone nationwide. The hearing is taking place in Amarillo, a four-hour drive from any major city, and only became public after reporters raised alarm about the lack of transparency, after Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk tried to delay notice and hide the date. The lawsuit aims to revoke the Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade approval of the abortion pill and comes after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion last year, overturning Roe v. Wade.
If the judge succeeds in revoking the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, which has been on the market in the United States for 23 years, then it would have a catastrophic impact specifically in states where abortion is legal. I mean, we’re talking about this hearing taking place in a state that’s not even going to be impacted by it, because abortion is already banned in Texas. And so, this would reverberate across states like where I’m sitting, in Massachusetts, New York, California, states where abortion is legal.
The abortion pill mifepristone is the first of two drugs used in the standard of care for medication abortion. And so, what providers across the country have been preparing to do in preparation for this ruling is to
— source democracynow.org | Mar 15, 2023